As West Dithers With Weak Sanctions, Putin Moves On Ukraine

Secretary of State John Kerry, pictured an international conference in Rome on March 6, seems resigned to Russia's annexation of Crimea. -- AP View Enlarged Image

Ukraine: Two weeks after Russian troops covertly slipped into Crimea and took over, the consequences of U.S. passivity are clear: some 80,000 Russian troops amassing on Ukraine's border, three hours from Kiev.

It's no surprise that they should be: The lack of leadership seen from the U.S. and the European Union in these lost days has been read as a green light for Russia to make a final grab for Ukraine.

The matter is made worse as Ukraine talks about restarting its nuclear program as a last-resort defense. This opens up the specter of regional nuclear conflict, given Ukraine's 15 nuclear power plants that could relatively quickly be converted to military ends.

To date, the U.S. and Europe have talked of pulling visas for Russian oligarchs, sent a ship or two to the Black Sea, halted two gas-line projects, and talked about sanctions on Russian businesses.

But Russia is being pulled in its destructive direction by its traditional fear of encirclement and its desire to unite with Kievian Rus, the source of all Russian civilization, and the still-burning anger of Russia's leaders over the humiliating 1991 breakup of the USSR.

Amid this, the U.S. and Europe are still talking about "discussing" what Secretary of State John Kerry told Congress Wednesday would be "a very serious series of steps on Monday" if Russia goes forward with its hasty referendum on Crimea rejoining Russia on Sunday.

And Kerry seemed resigned to the reality that none of this would deter the Napoleonic speed with which Putin is moving to take not just Crimea, but all Ukraine.

"Our hope is not to create hysteria or excessive concern about (a Russian advance into eastern Ukraine) at this point in time," Kerry told Congress. "Our hope is to avoid that, but there is no telling that we can."

Instead of this mushmouthed resignation, the U.S. should be going for some economic shock and awe.

President Obama should have stunned Putin with a massive unleashing of fracking activity, both in the U.S. and Europe, as a way to undercut Russia's energy cash stream. He should have pursued sales of U.S. natural gas to Europe to underscore his seriousness. But right now, those moves are not even on the table.

And that's a shame because, historically, huge moves on energy have had real power to check Russia.

One of the most powerful factors in President Reagan's breakup of the Soviet Union was then-CIA director Bill Casey's personal persuasion of Saudi Arabia to slash the price of oil in 1982 to cut into Russia's energy earnings and loosen its stranglehold on Europe.

That move bankrupted the Soviet Union.

We see no such leadership now from the Obama administration. From the stoat-like eyes of Vladimir Putin, the U.S. refusal to whip out its biggest trump cards immediately signals a flatfooted opponent not nimble enough or willing enough to act while the glow of history beckons.

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